Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II, Part 147

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1166

USA > Georgia > Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II > Part 147

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H ENRY WADSWORTH REED, Waycross, Ware Co., Ga., one of Ware county's most widely known and influential citizens, was born in Neenah, Wis., March 12, 1856. He is the second son of Harrison and Ann Louisa (Turner) Reed, the former a man of grcat influence in public affairs both west and south. He was the first editor of the "Milwaukee Sentinel"; in December, 1847, he was made a member of the constitutional convention from Marquette and Winnebago counties, Wis. From 1868 to 1872 he was the honored governor of the state of Florida. Both he and his wife are lineal descendants of Pilgrim stock, each having had an ancestor among the passengers on the historic Mayflower. Mr. Reed's grandfather, Joseph Turner, an officer in the revolutionary army, was a direct descendant of Jonathan Turner of the Mayflower. Several members of the Turner family who are near relatives of Mr. Reed are prominent in the affairs

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of Wisconsin; William J. Turner is president of the board of education of Mil- waukee; two other uncles were members of the first constitutional convention of the state. When Henry W. Reed was four years old his mother died and he was sent to live with relatives in Flint, Mich., where he was trained in the public schools until he was about twelve years old. His father had made his home in Florida, and the youth, for the benefit to be derived from its excellent curriculum, entered the John S. C. Abbott Academy at Farmington, Me., where he remained for over two years, studying for the two years following at Syracuse university, Syracuse, N. Y. Thence Mr. Reed returned to Jacksonville, Fla., to engage in various surveying and engineering enterprises, toward which his natural bent was strong, and for which he had been fitting himself by private study and prepara- tion. So marked were his progress and ability that at the early age of twenty-two years he was placed in charge of the Peninsula railroad, from Waldo to Tampa, Fla., as superintendent of construction. Within two years he was promoted to the responsible position of locating engineer on the Waycross & Jacksonville line, having as one of his functions the locating, planning and laying out the present city of Waycross, whose citizens thoroughly appreciate his enterprise and public spirit. Within a year Mr. Reed was advanced past intermediate positions to that of master of roadways for the Savannah, Florida & Western railroad, which place he has just resigned after fourteen years of such judicious administration of his department as to contribute largely to making the Plant system what it now is. Mr. Reed now turns from these familiar duties, carried on with such rare tact and energy to such marvelous success, and assumes new duties for which his extensive and varied experience has well fitted hin. He has the care of the large financial interests in this region of his aunt, Mrs. Mitchell, widow of the widely known Hon. Alexander Mitchell of Milwaukee, Wis. He is president of the National bank of Brunswick, Ga., and organized the Bank of Waycross, Waycross, Ga. Although his time, and to some degree his interest, must be by these new duties divided between Brunswick and Waycross, the citizens of the last named will continue to claim Mr. Reed as their fellow-citizen. He holds large property in- terests here, and will be as ever solicitous for the prosperity of the city for which he has done so much. He has been a member of the city council three terms, for six years president of the board of education, and was largely instrumental in the inauguration of the present excellent school system-in behalf of which he is still working, with still greater benefits in view. The city is largely indebted to him for its excellent system of water-works and artesian water, he having made the plans and superintended the construction, besides serving upon the board of sanitary and water-works commissioners. His marked ability and extensive knowledge of railroad affairs have given him prominence among railroad men throughout the country, and for two years he held the position of secretary and for the last two years has been president of the Roadmasters' Association of America; he is a highly esteemed member of the American Society of Civil En- gineers, of the American Academy of Political and Social Science of Philadelphia, and of the American Institute of Civics of Boston. While in college he was secretary and vice-president of the Delta Upsilon college fraternity, to which he still belongs. An enumeration of the enterprises in which Mr. Reed's efficient support has been felt would be incomplete without reference to the Cherokee Farm and Nursery company, of which he was one of the originators, and of which he is still the head as president. Since its beginning in 1883 this enterprise has grown amazingly, and is one of the most successful enterprises of the kind in the south. It ships products to all parts of the United States and even to foreign countries; has large orders from the north, and keeps twenty agents at work in

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the southern states. It is also doing a very valuable and useful work in experi- menting with foreign fruits, especially Japan and Russian cherries, pears, plums, etc. Of these the Japan varieties seem especially adapted to this locality. Other fruits are doing finely; plums, blackberries, strawberries and grapes, and even figs and olives, which are better adapted to Florida. By voice and pen, as well as by practical effort, Mr. Reed has advocated these trials-of Japan varieties especially. Although a close and interested student of public and political affairs, Mr. Reed is in no sense a politician, nor has he sought political favor, preferring to give his time and energy to the promotion of the greatest good to all with whom he came in touch, unbiased by political prejudices. Still young in years, Mr. Reed may look forward to a long period of ever-widening usefulness and influence. His honorable career should be an inspiration and incentive to lofty aims and earnest effort to every young man, even though lonely and discouraged. On May 4, 1880, Mr. Reed was married at Waldo, Fla., to Miss Emma Livingston, a lineal descendant of Philip Livingston, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a member of the noted family of that name which settled in the beautiful valley of the Hudson river in colonial times.

JAMES CARLISLE RIPPARD, a physician of extensive and successful prac- tice in Ware county, post-office Waycross, is a Pennsylvanian, born in Wilkes- barre Nov. 30, 1857. His parents were Josiah Alexander and Catharine Pauline Rippard, the former a well-known and esteemed bank cashier of Wilkesbarre. The son, James C., having received a good education in the public schools of his native city, continued with a course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Md., graduating in 1881. Returning to Wilkesbarre, the young physician opened an office in March of the same year, and for nearly ten years remained there in practice, in which his skill and diligence achieved success. In 1889 he was made president of the Luzerne County Medical society, a well- deserved recognition of his worth. Early in 1891 he came south, and, after brief stops in Savannah and Fort Valley, he finally located in Waycross, his present home, where he devotes himself with assiduity to his extensive practice. Never- theless, he has a strong interest in the welfare of his adopted city, and is always foremost in all that will tend to promote her greatest good. He is an active and devoted member of the Presbyterian church. June 28, 1893, he married Miss May Barnes, of Waycross, formerly of Urbana, Ohio.

WILLIAM WALTER SHARPE, Waycross, Ware Co., Ga., is of English lineage, his grandfather having come from England in 1820 and settled in Winnsboro, S. C., moving later to Jefferson county, Fla., where he engaged in the tannery business, and where he spent the remainder of his life. His son, James Edward Sharpe, served in the Mexican war and well nigh lost his sight from an attack of measles. He married Angeline, daughter of Daniel Ulysses McNeil, who settled in Lowndes county, and later moved to Quitman, where he held the office of sheriff some twenty-five years; he was also treasurer of the county for eight years, and was a man prominent among his fellows, and having large influence in the community. His only son, William W., was born Aug. 22, 1857, at Long's Mill, Brooks Co .; he acquired his education in the common schools of Quitman. After some six months' experience as a clerk he opened a general store in Boston, Ga., in September, 1873, with W. A. McNeil, but sold out in 1874 to A. H. McCardel. That summer young Sharpe made 100,000 brick in Quitman. In the fall he went to Monticello, Fla., and served a year's apprenticeship at bricklaying, and the next two years served an apprenticeship to learn cabinet-making and undertaking; after which he went into partnership

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with B. C. Pollard, from whom he had learned the trade. In a short time he moved to Valdosta and opened a general furniture and undertaking business in his own name, but with D. W. Rountree as silent partner. This he gave up in April, 1881, to enter the employ of the railroad company as foreman of a car- penter gang in Savannah, having charge of the wharves and terminal repairs of the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway company. In 1886 he was promoted to the division superintendency, which position he still holds. He had charge of the changing of the gauge of the Savannah division before his promotion. The present responsibilities devolving upon Mr. Sharpe are very heavy, he having the care and maintenance of all the buildings, wharves, tracks, bridges, telegraph lines and structures of all kinds, with the custody of all the property of the company within his division limits. The standing and ability of Mr. Sharpe as a railroad man are widely recognized. He is secretary of the Roadmasters' Association of Amer- ica, before the convention of which, held in Chicago in September, 1893, he read a valuable paper entitled "How to Maintain the Best Track at Least Cost"; for it he was awarded the first premium. The talents of Mr. Sharpe are not confined to railroad affairs; he is general manager and secretary of the Waycross Tobacco Growers' and Manufacturing association with a capital of $25,000, a growing business; he has also dealt largely in real estate. Moreover he has taken active part in public affairs; he has been alderman of Waycross three years, and chair- man of finance and public property committees three years. Mr. Sharpe is prom- inent in the masonic order, in which he is past master and past and present H. P. of his chapter; and has been representative to grand lodge and grand chapter, and served on committee of jurisprudence. He is a faithful member of the Meth- odist church, and active as steward. March 2, 1880, Mr. Sharpe married Miss Inez Estelle Ashcraft, daughter of Augustus Bruce and Caroline (Williams) Ash- craft, of Newnan. Her father was a private in the Confederate army, and wounded; her grandfather was a Presbyterian minister of Connecticut. Mr. and Mrs. Sharpe have one son and one daughter. Mr. Sharpe is a large-hearted and thoroughly public-spirited man, and has done much for the welfare of the city of his adoption; when in the council he advanced the paving enterprises, and intro- duced "fire district" rules. He is identified with the democratic party.

WILLIAM JOB SMITH, one of the leading business men of Waycross, Ware Co., is the eldest living son of Nathaniel and Louisa Frances Smith, and was born in Lowndes county, Ga., April 10, 1851. During his infancy his parents moved to Hamilton county, Fla., and after the war to Jasper, where his father engaged in mercantile business. In 1862 his father enlisted in the Confederate service, and served through the war. His grandfather was an officer in the war of the revolution, going from Carolina. Young Smith, besides making use of such school privileges as his own neighborhood afforded, also attended school in Jacksonville, Fla., for a short time. Later he clerked for his father until 1870, and then engaged in business at Smithville for about two years. In 1873 on account of his health he went to farming. In January, 1880, he moved to Way- cross, and opened a livery, boarding and sale stable, the first in the city. Two years later he discontinued this, engaged in a general merchandising business, and about 1886 took Mr. John Wiley Adams, a progressive young business man, a native of Florida, into partnership. Mr. Smith has also had an interest in various other firms in Waycross, and has started several friends in business. He has handled considerable real estate, building the fine block now occupied by himself and his business associates. Nor have his interests been wholly selfish.

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He has taken a very active part in the public affairs of Waycross, having been a member of the council several years, and mayor one year. He is a member of the board of education, of the committee for building a school edifice, has been prominent in his efforts for the exclusion of the liquor traffic, and for the promotion of morality and sobriety. He is a leading business man in this com- munity, and also has established a mercantile business in Dawson. Early in 1894 Mr. Smith associated with himself and his former partner, Mr. Adams, Mr. William Parker, under the corporate name of The Smith-Adams-Parker company. Mr. Parker is a native of Appling county and the son of a physician of large practice-a man of great ability and varied talents. Mr. Parker served through the war, since which he has been variously engaged-in farming, carpenter work, carriage repairing, stencil work, printing, and printed the "Coffee County Ga- zette"-now "The Pioneer"-on a cylinder press of his own construction. After moving to Waycross Mr. Parker published the "Weekly Headlight" for about five years; this paper is now published monthly, and is the official organ of the Christian Layman workers, of which Mr. Parker is president. This association has built a large edifice in Waycross for its annual conventions, and has twenty- three working classes scattered from Columbus, Ga., to Jacksonville, Fla. This organization originated in 1886 in a class conducted by Mr. Parker among the poor, which grew in interest and usefulness, and developed into this large and helpful, undenominational society, still growing rapidly and doing a great work. Mr. Parker has been prominent in mercantile affairs, the real estate business and building, and is a Methodist-a steward and class leader. On entering part- nership with Messrs. Smith and Adams he united the shoe business with theirs. Mr. Smith is a member of the Methodist church and is also a steward; he is a prominent Mason and Odd Fellow, having been through all the chairs of the last-named fraternity, being deputy district grand, and member of the grand lodge. Jan. 6, 1876, Mr. Smith married Miss Margaret Theresa Staten, daughter of Capt. Q. B. Staten of Clinch county. They have been blessed with four girls and two boys.

JOB ELBERT WILDER SMITH, a prominent citizen of Waycross, Ware Co., Ga., is the eldest living son of James David and Edith (Folsom) Smith. He was born Nov. 24, 1854, in Hamilton county, Fla., but very soon after his birth his parents moved to Echols county, Ga., where they still reside. The father represented his senatorial district in the general assembly two years; and was a member of that body in 1876, when called for the constitutional convention of 1877. His son, after receiving a good common school education, attended the university of Georgia, Athens, two years, and then attended medical lectures at the Georgia Medical college, Augusta, during the winters of 1879-80, conclud- ing with a course at Vanderbilt Medical college, Nashville, Tenn., from which he graduated March 1, 1882. He had engaged in the drug business at Jasper, Fla., in 1880, also practicing medicine; but in the fall of 1883 he sold out the drug business and devoted himself exclusively to the practice of his profession. During his residence here he was a member of the city council. In December, 1888, he moved to Waycross, where he is well known and esteemed, not only as a skillful and progressive physician, but as a public-spirited citizen, doing all in his power for the welfare of the city of his adoption, where he has established a fine practice, and built an elegant and commodious home. Ambitions to stand in the front rank of the profession to which he is devoted, Dr. Smith took a post graduate course at the Post Graduate Medical school and hospital in New York city, in 1892. He is surgeon for the Savannah, Florida & Western railway. He is an

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active member of the board of education; a faithful member and deacon in the Presbyterian church; and worshipful master of the lodge, and a member of the chapter. He is also an Odd Fellow, in which order he is past grand. Dr. Smith was married March 23, 1880, to Miss Cordelia Carter, daughter of John A. and Mahala (Walker) Carter, of Echols county, Ga., and to them have been born one son and three daughters: Darwin Roy, Vista, Irene, and Juno.

THOMAS LEANDER STRICKLAND, Waycross, Ware Co., Ga., second son of Allen C. and Katharine (Sweat) Strickland, was born Nov. 27, 1850, in Pierce county, Ga. He was educated in the common schools, and in 1867 he left home to enter the employ of his brother, J. W. Strickland, as clerk. He remained with him for six years, and then was for five years employed in saw- mills. An opening then presented itself in business for which Mr. Strickland seemed especially fitted, and he entered, to continue it with success up to the present time. He is engaged in the sale of pianos and organs, traveling most of the time; having for his field the southern half of Georgia. His home is in Waycross, in the growth and prosperity of which city he is sincerely concerned, although his business precludes his taking a very active part in public affairs; he has, however, been justice of the peace and postmaster. He is a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, in which he is a deacon. He is also a royal arch Mason. Dec. 20, 1876, Mr. Strickland was married to Miss Daisy Owen, daughter of Dr. James D. Owen, of Rome, Ga., now deceased. Dr. Owen was the first assistant physician of the state insane asylum for a period of time, which position he was compelled to resign on account of ill health, after which he moved to Rome. Mr. and Mrs. Strickland have but one child, a daughter.

J L. SWEAT, Waycross, Ware Co., Ga., is a native Georgian, having been born in Ware county Sept. 21, 1847. He is next to the youngest son of Samuel and Maria Sweat, the grandson of a revolutionary hero, Nathaniel Sweat, of North Carolina, and belongs to a family prominent in the southeastern region of our country, the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. Young Sweat was reared on a plantation in Pierce county, attending the country schools and completing his education at Blackshear academy. He enlisted in the Confederate cavalry service in 1862, at the early age of fourteen and a half, and for the remaining three years of the war was a brave and gallant young soldier. After the war he located at Homerville, Clinch Co., where he engaged in business and was married, and hav- ing studied for the bar, was admitted to plead and practice in 1869. For several sessions he held a clerical position at Atlanta in the general assembly, was a clerk for awhile in the executive department under Gov. Smith, and held the office of chief clerk of the house of representatives of Georgia in 1875-76. He was twice elected representative from Clinch county to the general assembly, serving in the house in 1880-81-82 and '83, and was placed on several important committees, and by his eloquence, industry and popular manners, made himself a leader in that body. In nearly every congressional convention of the old First Georgia district he was for years a delegate and an influential and controlling spirit, and was fre- quently a member of state conventions. He was also a delegate from Georgia to the national democratic convention at Chicago in 1884, and again at St. Louis in 1888. In 1887 he removed to Waycross, where he has since resided and has been one of the prime movers and factors in the upbuilding of that beautiful city. Upon the resignation of Judge Atkinson in the spring of 1892 he was appointed by Gov. Northen judge of the superior courts of the Brunswick circuit, embracing the counties of Appling, Camden, Charlton, Coffee, Clinch, Glynn, Pierce, Ware

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and Wayne, and was subsequently elected by the legislature without opposition. In politics Judge Sweat has always been a consistent democrat, and as a lawyer was one of the most successful practitioners at the bar. Religiously he is a Methodist, and is also a leading Mason. His career on the bench has won for him golden opinions from both the bar and people, and he is frequently mentioned for congressional honors. Able, tireless and popular, and just now in the prime of mature, vigorous manhood, an exalted and brilliant career still awaits him in the future.

DANIEL B. SWEAT, Waycross, Ware Co., Ga., is a grandson of Nathaniel Sweat, a North Carolinian, who early in the present century came to Ware county, where he dwelt for the remaining fifty or sixty years of his life, carrying on his farm in the midst of the then wilderness, and part of the time with hostile Indians all around him. He served in the Seminole war, and was for a number of years justice of the peace. His son, Thomas M., was born Nov. 8, 1831, and mar- ried Miss Eliza Phillips, a native of Emanuel county, Ga., born Jan. 10, 1826. They, too, remained upon the farm until 1879, when Mr. Sweat became a merchant in Waycross. During the war he served in the Confederate army, in charge of a squad in a detachment of troops. He is an active member of the M. E. church south, also a prominent royal arch Mason. His son, Daniel B., was born in Ware county June 30, 1864, and received a common school education, re- maining on the farm until at the age of sixteen he entered the "Reporter" office at Waycross as an apprentice. So rapid was his progress, and so great the confi- dence and esteem in which he was held by his employer that he was soon pro- moted to the position of foreman. He held the position until 1886, when he purchased the plant and continued the publication until March, 1891, when he sold out to the Waycross Herald Publishing company. With this firm he con- tinued two years as solicitor and traveling correspondent, acting also meanwhile as agent of the Equitable Life Assurance society of the United States. Having been constantly interested and actively engaged in Sunday school work, Mr. Sweat, to advance this work, now began the publication of the "Sunday School Revival," which was from the first a success, and which has grown rapidly, both in patronage and size, and has been adopted as the official organ of both the Georgia and Florida Sunday School associations. To this, and to a general job printing and publishing business, Mr. Sweat now devotes his time and energy. Nov: 16, 1887, he married Miss Hattie Lanier, sister of the well-known T. E. Lanier, of Waycross, and daughter of Rev. R. F. and Mrs. H. M. Lanier, of Jasper, Fla. Mrs. Sweat died at Waycross June 27, 1890. On May 16, 1894, Mr. Sweat led to the marriage altar Miss Minnie L., youngest daughter of Mr. C. C. Buchanan, a prominent citizen and real estate dealer of Waycross, Ga.

BRAD WATSON, a young and enterprising merchant of Waycross, Ware Co., Ga., was born in Brooks county, Ga., Feb. 9, 1874, the only son of a thrifty farmer, Shepherd Watson, and his wife, Susan Emma (Slaughter) Watson. Young Watson was educated in the common schools of Ware county, to which his parents moved in 1884. At the age of thirteen he commenced clerking in the store of A. R. Bennett, but the next year changed for a like situation with Grace & McNeil, which he retained about two years. In November, 1890, being consid- erably under eighteen, this energetic young business man made his first trip as a buyer, preparatory to opening a store for himself, with F. C. Owens as his partner, under the name of Brad Watson & Co. This business was continued until July I, 1895, when Mr. Watson purchased his partner's interest. His business is in a

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most thriving condition, his store being the leading dry goods house of the city, and indeed, of the county. Mr. Watson is an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His extraordinary business capacity and unswerving integrity command the highest respect and best wishes of the community.

WILBUR P. WHELPLEY, an enterprising citizen of Waycross, Ware Co., Ga., was born at Cobden, Ill., Sept. 5, 1866. His father, Dr. Jerome Twining Whelpley, was one of the early proprietors of the Poughkeepsie Business college. His mother, Charlotte (Chase) Whelpley, was the daughter of Hon. Warren Chase, for three terms representative from California in the congress of the United States. He drafted and introduced the bill admitting Wisconsin into the Union, and was a man of note; was influential and prominent, and a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln. His grandson, Wilbur P. Whelpley, was educated in Illinois in some of the best institutions of learning in the state. In 1885 he entered busi- ness as agent for the Illinois Central railroad, learning telegraphy, and doing station, freight and passenger work generally. The next year he took charge of a station for the Cotton Belt railroad, having also the agency for the construction of the Little Rock branch, but on account of poor health and through the influence of Capt. H. W. Reed, he moved to Florida, whence in October, 1886, he came to Waycross, where he accepted a position with the Plant system as union ticket and passenger agent, which position he retained until Jan. 1, 1894. He then formed a partnership with M. R. Penfield, under the firm-name of Whelpley & Penfield, and they became proprietors of the Southern hotel-a fifty-room, first- class hotel in Waycross. Mr. Whelpley has also been somewhat interested in real estate and his business talent and integrity have won him the respect of his fellow- citizens. Though not married, he is very popular in society, and especially active in the organization of societies. He is a leading member of the Waycross Rifles, a military company which is one of the best in the state.

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Memoirs of Georgia; containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people. Vol. II, Part 147

Author: Publication date: 1859 Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association Number of Pages: 1166

Author:
Publication date: 1859
Publisher: Atlanta, Ga., The Southern historicl association
Number of Pages: 1166